SANDHAN VALLEY - WHERE ROUTES ARE A MYTH

Me, madly lost in the beauty of Sahyadri! 

Sandhan valley! The place which I have been fantasizing about for last 3 years! For last 3 years, I've been binge watching the photos of Sandhan valley and dreaming about how cool it would be if I ever go there. It was like a dream come true to go there and return with a suitcase of memories with your GANG!

Sandhan valley, deepest valley in Sahyadris, which stands 2nd in the deepest valleys of Asia; is a perfect example of beauty and the beast! The valley is so beautiful and breathtaking yet it is so dangerous and fatal. The depth of the valley is just 200 ft, yet it never fails to depict the beauty of sahyadri boldly! Surrounded by the mighty Ratangad, Kalsubai peak, Alang Madan and Kulang, this "valley of shadows" is nothing but an all in one package for every fellow trek mate.

Sandhan valley is located in Ahmednagar district, Maharashtra. To get there, we can go via Samrad village which is nearest to the valley.

Sandhan valley is nearly 184 km from Mumbai. So it is not actually a good idea to go there by any private vehicle. Using local transport will be much cheaper.

We reached Kasara station at 1.30 am. This time, I was going with Drifters! So as soon as I met all my friends from AMK, the excitement for trek was doubled! We sat in cars at Kasara and left for Samrad village. Around 4.30, we took a halt for a tea break, where each and everyone of us gave a small introduction of ourselves. Few instructions were given about the trek and then we left for Samrad. During the ride, we all were listening to songs. But soon, we came to know that our driver was not in his complete senses and we decided to have some fun. People who were sitting next to the driver seat were asking him questions, and his answers were so hilarious that we literally bursting out in laughter. Questions about his love life, his driving, his honeymoon, any random stuff. (xD). That made our journey a bit lighter and memorable.

We reached Samrad at around 5 am and had our breakfast there. Cold winds of winter were literally chilling out our bones. Everyone was shivering, even though they were completely wrapped in their jackets and hoodies and sweaters, nothing could save them from the winter. Even the tea which was boiling on the stove 2 minutes ago was cold. After having the poha and tea, everyone was sitting and chattering about their stories from their past treks. Everyone was hyped. You know you're with perfect kind of people when you start enjoying trek well before it actually began! I was with right people at that moment. I was happy, and hyped.

The trek begins at nearly 15 km from Samrad village. We started hiking at around 6.30 am. According to instructions, we were supposed to reach the camping point at 6.30 pm! So it was a 12 hour long trail which was waiting for our arrival.

water stream

The thing with Sandhan valley is that I suppose it is the only trek in Sahyadris, for which we have to hike down in order to complete it. Cool, isn't it? To complete the trek, the length of the route is about 2 km only; yeah it sounds to be easy, but it is way too difficult even for regular trekkers! If you start searching for a route to start the trek, let me tell you my friend, routes are a myth here. Only thing you'll find in the valley is huge chunks of rock piled up on each other. You have to jump, slide, crawl or do anything possible to clear the rock patch. If you're scared, better return to the home. This ain't a place for those who are scared. This is a place for them who can overpower their fear and complete it like a boss! While jumping from rock to rock, for a moment I thought I was living in stone age with my ancestors who used to do this on a regular basis.

As soon as the trek begins, there's a water stream which you have to cross. The depth of stream is about 5 feet. We were instructed to pack our belongings in plastic bag so even if our bag gets wet in the stream, it won't cause much harm. We took off our shoes and socks. Some of us shifted their outfit from all to none, and jumped into the stream. We created a human chain and then passed bags of all the participants first. We were barefoot in the stream. And trust me, the corals were hurting our feet badly! Edges of the rocks were prickling our feet, because of which we were losing the grip and falling down. I fell down, and my clothes were completely wet! We passed the bags first, then all the participants crossed. Everyone was enjoying; the trek had just begun.

After the stream, there's only rock patch for next 2 hours. All you'll see is rocks and rocks and rocks. Nothing else. Yeah but to add a remark here, while descending, the valley reveals the breathtaking sceneries of the Sahyadris! It's true; in valley, you have no fear to be lost in the jungle, but you'll surely be lost in the beauty of nature. That is what keeps us going even when our legs are paining. Trekkers can relate, right? For a moment, I felt like stopping right where I was, sit there for a while and taste the sweet silence and beauty of the valley.

Even if you have a huge trekking experience for like 10 years or more, Sandhan valley will still be difficult for you! That is a kind of characteristic of the valley. It keeps you surprised at every step you take or every jump you make! After clearing the rock patch, there are 4 consecutive rappelling patches. First one is about 80 ft, and other 3 are about 30-40 ft on an average. But height doesn't matter. You'll be scared at each and every rock patch. Funny thing here is, after clearing the rock patch, my legs were already paining; and after rappelling, my hands were paining. Basically, the valley was executing "all out attack" tactic on us.

Moments before I took a mysterious turn

I realized that there's something wrong between me and rappelling. We have understanding issues. It was not the case that I was new to rappelling, I've done it quite a few times before. But this experience was worst for me. First things first, I was 100% sure that I'm safe and not gonna fall off. So fear was not at all a factor here to make it worst. As I started going down, first 20 ft of rappelling were normal, successful. But what came next, blew my mind. As soon as I shifted my body weight backwards, I really don't know what happened and I took a mysterious turn. I lost my balance. I was swinging on the rope like a monkey. There was one moment, where I was stuck between a cavity and couldn't even move. I heard someone saying "He's shifting his weight but not moving his legs." But man I was moving them before I was thrown by the weight of my bag. I felt restless there. I somehow managed to come down, and found out my elbow is bleeding, I have scratches on my shoulder, and I'm pissed off.  First rappelling patch was cleared, not successfully. I felt like I was giving a KT paper and somehow managed to clear the subject. :(

One surprising thing about trekking is, many a times I don't even know how those scratches made their way on my body. Like, everything is fine, and all of a sudden that wounds or scratches start burning and we are hit with the reality that we're wounded. That is some kind of magic I suppose. I've literally stopped asking questions like "How? When?" to myself after seeing such wounds. 

After the first rappelling patch, the other rappelling patches are really nothing. For 2nd rappelling patch, there's just a simple rope which we have to hold and climb down, unlike the first one which required harness and hooking. After the 2nd patch, we had our lunch, rested for a while and started again. 

For 3rd and 4th rappelling patches, there were 2 routes. One with simply a rope and other which needed hooking and stuff. Due to my recent experience of rappelling, I decided to go by the simple rope route. At 3rd patch, there was one gap which was formed eventually by overlapping of 3 huge rocks, and if we look through the gap, there's direct 20 ft fall. Nothing to take support of. A rope was tied and we had to climb down with its support. If you loosen the grip on the rope, you'll find yourself at the bottom of the rock in no time; straight fall. Half of the people went for rappelling and remaining people who were confident enough to come by rope came by rope route. 

4th patch was literally a without ticket entertainment show for me. It too, had 2 routes. In this trek, I'll admit that I explored myself. I came to know that I take really bad decisions at time of need. I should have gone for the rappelling route. But no! As I started going down with the rope, I found nothing to take support of. I was somehow halfway through the patch, and my hands were losing the grip of the rope. I closed my eyes, took a deep breath and loosened the grip over the rope, and the very next moment I found myself at the bottom of the patch. Loosening the grip hurt me so badly that my hands were burning. Gods be good, that I just saved my hands from tearing my palm skin. 2 more seconds of falling and my hands would have been bleeding. I was first to complete the 4th patch, so I decided to sit there and watch the show of each and everyone coming down and see them fall down as I fell. That's evilest thing I've ever done. I didn't go to help anyone, because I couldn't help myself there. 

Camping site

At around 4.30 pm, all the rappelling patches were cleared. Now my only aim was to cross the small stream across the valley and rush to the camping site, throw my bag in the tent, and sleep. Because the day was very much tiring. 

At around 5.30 to 6.00 pm, we all reached the camping point. Trek was successful. We were happy that we completed it before the estimated time. Everyone was tired. As soon as we reached, we had Chinese bhel, soup, tea as our refreshments. We went in our tents to rest for a while. No one literally had energy to dance or have fun at the camping point. At 9.30 pm, we had our dinner and everyone went to sleep. Some of us were playing cards till 12 am, with the company of some trippy music and bright moonlight; also the cool breeze of wind to add taste to it. 

On the next day, we woke up at 7.30 am and had our breakfast. Any stay trek without maggi as a breakfast is an incomplete trek. MARK MY WORDS. After breakfast, we packed our bags, dismantled the tents, and everyone got busy in clicking their photos. It was time to see off the valley. 

For the return journey, valley has 2 routes. First is via Karoli ghat which takes you back to the Samrad village, and other is via jungle which takes you to Dehne village, near Asangaon. Karoli ghat route takes 5-6 hours of hiking whereas the other route takes you to village in just 2 hours. We started to hike at 9.30 am and reached the village by 12.00 pm. The transport cars were already waiting for us. We sat in the car and started our return journey back to the Asangaon station. 

It was a journey that I will never forget. This difficulty was not at all expected. Like for Alang Madan Kulang, as we all know it is the toughest trek in Maharashtra state, I assumed that Sandhan valley will be a child's play. But let me tell you, I underestimated Sandhan valley. Truly, it was a great revelation for me. 

This time, I was with Drifters, so had no tension about management and food. The thing I like about them is they provide us a packet of refreshments. They treat each and every member of the group as their own family. Even the new members feel so friendly with them. Thank you Drifters for making this happen!

Sandhan done, what next?